Richard J. Bernard

Finance & Restructuring

Richard represents debtors, official and ad hoc committees, and other constituencies in large-asset bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts and adversary proceedings. His experience spans numerous industries, including crypto, technology, education, energy, mining, aviation, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, heavy industry, real estate and hospitality.

Representative Experience

• Richard represented funds in costly litigation with Stillwater Asset Backed Offshore Fund Ltd. concerning their investments in Stillwater. Instead of continuing the litigation, Richard commenced an involuntary bankruptcy in the U.S., where Stillwater had books and records, and assets. The petitioning creditors served on the committee and ultimately took over the liquidation and wind-down of Stillwater and 11 related funds through a plan of liquidation.
• Richard represented Merrill Lynch affiliate Lynx Associates, a real estate holding company formed to take advantage of certain tax loopholes, in its Chapter 11 case. Although Lynx had not received any offers for its real estate assets, Richard pushed forward a sale program without stalking horses, which was so successful that creditors received payment in full and the remainderman received a distribution.
• Richard represented Best Buy, the largest creditor of Partsearch Technologies, as chair of the committee, successful purchaser and plan proponent in Partsearch’s Chapter 11 case. The plan preserved net operating loss (NOL) for the benefit of Best Buy as an historic creditor and covered the cost of the acquisition.
• Richard represented Lenzing Plastics as the stalking horse purchaser of monofilament manufacturer Glassmaster, which closed on the personal property and provided for the bifurcation of the excess real property.

Personal Interests

Rumor has it that, outside the office, Richard enjoys penning his personal memoir, Life of a Cram-Down Artist.